NYT Future Looks Gloomy, Yahoo Will Cut Five Percent and More
NYT future looks gloomy after earnings announcement -- A recent earnings announcement has revealed that the New York Times, already more than $1 billion in debt, will run out of cash in four quarters. The company posted worse-than-expected losses of 27 percent, mostly attributed to the slowdown in advertising. NewYorkTimes.com, the most trafficked U.S. news site, also posted a 5.6 percent loss in advertising revenue. The paper said it doesn't expect the outlook to be any better in the second quarter. The Times has taken several steps to add more cash to its books, including a proposed sale of the Boston Globe and the sale of its Manhattan headquarters. [Source: Business Insider]
Yahoo will cut five percent -- The search company announced a 78 percent drop in profits yesterday during its earnings call. Yahoo also said it will be cutting five percent, which amounts to just under 700, of its workforce. CEO Carol Bartz said the cuts were not across the board. Instead, they are aimed at reducing redundancy, trimming the company's product portfolio and eliminating duplicate efforts. This will be the third round of cuts since early 2008. Bartz, who took over previous CEO and founder Jerry Yang in January, said the company will focus on its home page, sports, news, finances, mail, search, mobile, and entertainment. [Source: CNET]
Seattle P-I looses traffic -- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which switched to an online-only publication in March, has fallen out of the top 30 newspaper Web sites. The paper is the largest American newspaper to end print operations, and is considered a barometer for other papers who are considering a similar print-free strategy to reduce overhead. The site's views fell 32 percent in year-over-year numbers for the month of March. The paper's rival, the Seattle Times, recorded a record 70 percent growth in the same time period. [Source: Editor & Publisher]
Fox News partners with MySpace for user generated content -- Fox News has launched uReport, a Web site that allows users to submit photos and news tips. uReport will exist as a sub page of MySpace, giving Fox News easy access to the site's 124 million unique visitors. Both brands are owned by News Corp. The effort is similar to CNN's iReport initiative that collects media to feature as "citizen journalism" that often appears on the site's front page and in cable broadcasts. [Source: Mashable]
US game sales expected continue to slide -- After the video game industry posted disappointing numbers for March, many analysts expect to see the trend continue for several more months. Console sales are down 19 percent in year-over-year numbers. Many worry that the market has become too top heavy with big names and first party publishers dominating the market, leaving little room for smaller players. Despite the anticipated drop, current U.S. sale numbers are nearly identical to where they were during 2008. [Source: Joystiq]